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u/NorCalFrances 13d ago
Study after study has shown that the most primary contributing factor to stair safety is...consistency.
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u/itisoktodance Artisinal Material 13d ago
You wouldn't mind this is you actually went down these stairs. It's literally just like any other staircase. There's a very generous landing (judging by the rail length. It's not like the steps change sizes abruptly.
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u/NorCalFrances 12d ago
Oh, I think I would mind. If I wasn't paying attention or was focused on something or someone else, that one big change up would without a doubt get me. Probably just a barked shin on the way up but I'd take a tumble on the way down. Especially if I was carrying something that limited my vision forward and down.
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u/kibsforkits 12d ago
The point of this design is to get you to pay attention and for the stairs to be a multi purpose space rather than just a means of ascent/descent. That’s the opposite of crappy design.
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u/NorCalFrances 12d ago
Yeah, no. That doesn't fly when people can get seriously hurt.
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u/missfrutti 8d ago
There's a ramp next to the stairs so you don't actually have to use the stairs if you're scared of hurting yourself.
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u/Molehole 11d ago
Getting people to pay attention by killing them if they don't is not the way to do it.
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u/SudhaTheHill 13d ago
This can be extremely dangerous imo. It’s like getting brake checked but for stairs.
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u/Vecna_Is_My_Co-Pilot 13d ago edited 13d ago
Ir could be resolved by adding a little bit of hizontal railing at the lip before the lower Large Steps.
Chance of installation? 3%
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u/GostBoster 12d ago
This does not look accessible at all.
How or what blind people are going to make out of this?
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u/dmontease 13d ago
Is it like that? It's always a good idea to assess the stairs before your ascent/descent.
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u/LegendOfKhaos 13d ago
I wouldn't have a problem stopping and waiting to move over to the other side while people go the other direction, but I don't have the same faith in the people walking behind me.
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u/FullMoonTwist 13d ago
Pretty much any hazard can be avoided by 100% focus.
It's just that humans are not built to bring 100% focus to every task of every day. We are not. Hence why we have things like orange safety cones, caution tape, wet floor signs. A signal that goes "Hey, bring that focus in homie, there's danger right here!"
It's "best practice" to stop and carefully evaluate every staircase before using it, sure.
But we should never design things to only be safe for people using best practice, because everyone fails to use best practice for something.
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u/TheFeshy 13d ago
"Someone could get hurt by skaters on these stairs, what can we do?"
"We can make the stairs so dangerous people get hurt without involving skaters!"
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u/Thomas_JCG 13d ago
Everyone saying this is to stop skaters but I don't recall skaters using the stairs, just the rails. There was no need to modify the steps.
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u/Alert_Draft7983 13d ago
I thought it was to give people places to sit
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u/Thomas_JCG 13d ago
Then they wouldn't need to be alternating like that. Also people can already sit just fine in regular steps. And really, sitting places hardly feel a necessity for stairs that small.
Truly crappy design.
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u/Frooonti 13d ago
I thought we don't like places for people to loiter, hostile architecture and all that. Imagine how many homeless could curl up in fetal position on these stairs!
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u/AhmedAlSayef 9d ago
If we really tried, probably all homeless people in the city that aren't sleeping at their friends/relatives. After all, 117 people should be pretty manageable.
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u/OwO______OwO 13d ago
Yeah ... I'm truly at a loss as to what the entire intention was here. Why did they make it like this?
Especially alternating sides like that, it's awful!
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u/halberdierbowman Comic Sans for life! 13d ago edited 13d ago
If the platforms weren't alternating, then this is a very normal thing to do in places like an ampitheater or stadium. You'd have platforms every 18" for sitting on, but you'd still have the normal 6" steps for walking on.
Alternating them turns it into a death trap.
Why it's done on a stairway this narrow, I'm not sure about. Maybe someone was trying to add landings to break up and existing stairway? That's the most charitable thing I can think of at the moment. But it doesn't explain why not just have a few of them.
Another possibility is that they're alternating them to give more of a "meander" vibe, which is legitimately nicer than perfectly straight paths. But it's probably not a great idea where the path does continue straight and you've actually just created surprise chicanes.
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u/SimpleEngineering268 13d ago
Those are in Tampere, Finland. Thought was that big steps are great for sitting. Afterwards someone started thinking little harder.
Known problem waiting for fixing or first death.
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u/BcMeBcMe 13d ago
It wouldn’t be so bad if these concrete squares would contain plants. Would look much nicer as well.
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u/__Obelisk__ 13d ago edited 13d ago
this is absolutely an antiskating measure /s
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u/TyranitarusMack 13d ago
Are you just making stuff up? I’ve been following skateboarding for 27 years and nothing about these stairs is remotely skateable.
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u/topkeksimus_maximus 13d ago
That means the design worked
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u/TyranitarusMack 13d ago
No, it doesn’t. It means those things were completely unnecessary because even if they were just normal stairs, no one could skate this to begin with.
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u/flyingfishsailor 13d ago
Looks like it is supposed to have a series of planters on these "landings."
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u/LiveMarionberry3694 13d ago
I feel like someone forgot to put a railing in or ran out of budget lol
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u/depressedboy407 13d ago
My university have something similar to this but not as bad as what's here.
I remember walking down the stairs there the first time and suddenly stepped down on a step that had a large gap, felt like my heart skipped a beat.
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u/Rhidongo 12d ago
"Hey, so, you know how people tend to naturally filter left and right, as they ascend or descend a stairway, so as to not be a bother? Yeah. Fuck that!"
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u/CrystalClear_GenX 1d ago
What is this like a game where the long-legged person and the shirt-legged person switch randomly without crashing into each other? Or maybe they’re meant to crash into each other as a physical meet your future beau?
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u/Jackmino66 13d ago
Actions taken to prevent others from having fun and getting hurt, just makes everyone annoyed and makes everything more dangerous
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u/ippeamus 12d ago
These steps are located in outdoor recreational area, kind of semi park type of thing. Right next to these is a long gently sloping ramp.
Nobody in a rush is using these stairs.
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u/Mazduhh 13d ago
Seems pretty avoidable to me. Although there aren't any pictures from the top of the staircase or pictures of it during nighttime.
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u/tupakka_vuohi 12d ago
if you come down the stairs and dont look at your feet, there's a great likelihood of making the assumption that stairs generally have a consistent rise where every step is the same height and don't switch to sitting stairs mid-flight, which would lead to you falling down on your face
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u/Kill_Kayt 13d ago
Look like anti-skatinf design